Seventeen Syllables
by kirathaune
Summary: Koumyou thinks that in a haiku, beauty can be found in everything. Ukoku doubts him and issues a challenge - but is it ever wise to challenge Koumyou? Koumyou/Ukoku


**Notes:** The first haiku is by Matsuo Basho, the rest are mine. (Yeah, making up erotic haiku in the car on the way to work was ...interesting. O.o)

*

A full moon hung low in the sky, and the air was filled with the chirping of crickets and cicadas. The autumn evening was unseasonably warm, and both Koumyou and Ukoku had let their robes pool about their waists as they enjoyed a jar of sake on the porch of the guest house where they were staying.

"Ah, what a concert we are enjoying tonight," Koumyou commented while he sipped his sake. Pine boards creaked as he leaned back against a support post. "This insect serenade reminds me of a haiku by the poet Basho:

_"Calm and serene  
the sound of a cicada  
penetrates the rock._

"Isn't it amazing how so few words can evoke such beauty?" Stubbing his spent cigarette, Koumyou reached for his pack and tapped out a replacement. There was the snick of a lighter, and Ukoku's hand reached up to first light Koumyou's cigarette, then his own. Twin breaths drew in, then a haze of exhaled smoke settled over the two men. Koumyou refilled his sake cup.

Ukoku took another drag off his cigarette, this time blowing the smoke at his companion. He sniffed derisively. "I never understood what's so special about haiku. I mean, I appreciate the mental challenge of the syllables and all that, but otherwise it's a waste of time. All that thought for just three lines."

Hooded eyes slid his way. "It would seem that all you care about is the challenge. The syllables and structure merely provide a frame for the picture the words create. Can you not enjoy a thing for its own sake? In a haiku, the smallest things can be extraordinary, and beauty can be found in everything."

Ukoku snorted. "Everything?" He stubbed out his cigarette and offered it to Koumyou. "Here – find beauty in this." _This is going to be fun._

Koumyou took the cigarette butt from him and made a show of examining it closely, bringing it to his nose and inhaling deeply. He then gazed at the moon for a few moments, brows drawn together in concentration.

Ukoku rolled his eyes. "Get on with it, old man."

Koumyou's attention returned to the smirking monk. "Tch. Always so impatient." He held his hand out between them, the cigarette stub laying in his palm. He leaned forward and kept his eyes on Ukoku's as he recited:

"Smoke traces linger  
like the memory of lips  
gently caressing."

Koumyou waved the cigarette at Ukoku, and then he settled back against the post and retrieved his sake cup. His face was impassive but his eyes were sparkling as he flicked the stub into the bowl they'd been using as an ashtray. "Well?"

Ukoku opened his mouth, then shut it again. He should have known better than to challenge Koumyou. He grudgingly conceded that the small poem did make him see the cigarette stub in a different light… a rather _sexy_ light at that. His gaze settled steadily on the older man. "I guess maybe you _can_ make a haiku about anything." He reclined back on his elbows on the floorboards of the porch, the smirk still on his lips. "Make one about me." _Yes. Try and find beauty in me. Because there is none._

The corner of Koumyou's mouth twitched. "Only one? My dear boy, don't limit me so."

A gloved had reached out and slender fingers tangled in Ukoku's hair, stroking unkempt brunette locks. Ukoku's breath caught in his throat. He had not expected Koumyou to touch him, to… caress him like that. Yet another way this unpredictable man could surprise him. Koumyou's voice was low and musical as he murmured:

"Dark as raven's wing  
silky strands through my fingers  
shimmer in moonlight."

Fingers drifted away from Ukoku's hair to trace a path down his stubbled jaw, and he gasped as rough fingertips ghosted over his lips. A stray thumb stayed behind and lingered on his lower lip, and Koumyou's eyes focused on Ukoku's mouth as he spoke again:

"Soft pink sentinels  
guarding a secret treasure  
entreat questing lips."

The thumb left to join its fellows. The next thing Ukoku knew, Koumyou's mouth was on his, warm and insistent. He felt himself being gently pushed down against the wooden planks, and he reached a hand up behind Koumyou's head to keep that mouth against his. When Koumyou's tongue swept across his lower lip, Ukoku opened his mouth, inviting more. Koumyou accepted the invitation, and Ukoku groaned as the monk's tongue slid into his mouth, dancing against his own, tasting of sake and tobacco. He savored the flavors, sending his tongue into Koumyou's mouth to further explore and taste.

Koumyou's hand tugged at the hem of Ukoku's undergarment, then pushed the black silk up above his chest, briefly skimming along his ribcage before coming to rest right above his heart. Ukoku could feel the wild drumbeat of his heart echoing off the palm resting on his chest as Koumyou's lips left his to whisper in his ear:

"A heart in its cage  
flutters like a frightened bird  
eager to escape."

His heart _was_ trying to escape – it was trying to jump out of his damn chest. But not from fear – shit no, but because this felt so goddamn good.

A moan escaped Ukoku's throat as lips kissed their way across the bunched-up silk and teased an exposed nipple to hardness. Meanwhile, Koumyou's hand left his thudding chest to slide lazily down his abdomen. Wandering lips came back to his for a few heated kisses, then nipped and kissed their way along his jaw, ending at his earlobe. Fingers worked deftly at the buttons of his jeans, eliciting more moans as Koumyou's hand slipped under the band of his boxers and discovered a different hardness.

At that moment, Ukoku's universe shrank to three things: Koumyou's mouth nipping and sucking on his earlobe; Koumyou's hand on his cock, stroking him with almost unbearable leisure; and the moon, boring down on him from above. Moonlight filled his vision, its light blazing into every corner of his being, as leisurely strokes quickened and brought him to a shuddering, gasping climax. He cried out Koumyou's name as he came, his hand blindly reaching out towards the pale sphere above him.

Lips sought his again, and then Koumyou withdrew his hand and sat back up. With a sigh of satisfaction the monk lit a cigarette, inhaled, then blew a cloud of smoke at Ukoku. "Well? Have you achieved any enlightenment?" A playful smile danced on Koumyou's lips, his eyes crinkled in amusement.

Perhaps for the first time in his life Ukoku was incapable of coherent thought. He tried to get both his breathing and his whirling thoughts under control. All he could do was stare at the other monk while his pulse thundered in his ears, his body still trembling from his release. _This beautiful man…this beautiful, ridiculous man… finds value in me. Finds beauty in me._ Koumyou's hands were now folded primly in his lap but Ukoku knew they were really inside him, enfolding his heart in an irrevocable grasp. _Koumyou._

He clambered back up and moved towards Koumyou, taking the monk's cigarette away and crushing it out. Reaching behind the monk's head, he pulled on Koumyou's hair tie to release a cascade of ash blonde hair. Ukoku placed his own gloved hand on a silk-covered chest – now it was Koumyou's turn to be pushed down against the rough pine planks. Those gentle, laughing eyes were open now, locked with his and glittering with desire. _Desire for me._

Leaning over Koumyou, his movement blocked the pale moonlight illuminating the man below him and cast him in deep shadow. _His_ deep shadow. Capturing Koumyou's lips in a deep kiss, he pushed his tongue into Koumyou's mouth, thrusting and sucking hungrily. The moans were coming from Koumyou now, and Ukoku reveled in the knowledge that _he_ was causing them. Ukoku lifted his mouth from Koumyou's and pulled away enough to stare at the man sprawled languidly beneath him. He reached out and grasped a handful of long, pale hair, winding it through his fingers before he brought it up to his cheek. He turned his face to kiss the silken strands, then leaned back down, his mouth hovering above Koumyou's as he whispered:

"Touchable moonlight  
spilling blonde beams on my hand  
its light beckons me."

Koumyou smiled at him. "Ah, Ukoku… such a fast learner."


End file.
